Dragonborn
by mecaka
Summary: Hiccup has been riding dragons his entire life. In fact, he hasn't known a day where he wasn't surrounded by the beasts. An AU with spoilers for the second film.


**AN: Hey, peoples of the fan fiction universes! This is my first time writing for HTTYD, and of course I decide to do a complicated AU the same day I see the movie inspiring said complicated AU...**

**Basically, this idea is based on a scene in the second movie. So, SPOILERS AHEAD, TURN BACK NOW FOR YOUR OWN SAKE! Unless of course you don't care about any movie spoilers...**

**Hiccup's mom had that flashback of the night she disappeared, where Cloudjumper was almost playing with baby!Hiccup and she was staring at it, unable to strike. And then Stoick bursts in, scares the dragon into lighting half the room on fire, picks up Hiccup, and spins around to see Cloudjumper carrying off Valka. Well, what if Cloudjumper had taken Hiccup, instead?**

Prologue: A Mother's Tears

Valka looked up after throwing a man off a dragon, and gasped in shock at the sight meeting her eyes: a dragon forcing its way into the second floor of her home. "Hiccup!" she whispered, for the wall the dragon had broken through was the outer wall of her son's nursery.

She began sprinting for the building, hoping beyond hope that her baby would be okay. She burst through the front door, hauling up a sword that had belonged to her father, and took the stairs two at a time. When she finally forced the door open into Hiccup's room, she was prepared to do anything to protect her son, even if it meant going against everything she believed in. She was again shocked by what she found: a huge four-winged beast watching her baby curiously, pupils wide, one clawed wing tip in the cradle almost playing with the babe. The door crashing open caught its attention though, and it's head turned to her and it's claw caught the right side of Hiccup's jaw. She raised her sword in challenge as her son began to cry from the scratch he had received.

The dragon moved closer to her, watching her with wide eyes. Staring into them, she realized she would never kill a dragon, because she couldn't kill a dragon. She saw its intelligence in the curious gaze, it's compassion in the way it had been playing with her son. Dragons weren't inherently dangerous. Her sword dropped and she backed into the wall, unsure of what to do.

Her musings were interrupted when her husband barged in, swinging his axe and roaring in anger. She watched, frozen in place, as the dragon shot fire in an arc at her husband, spun back towards the cradle, and launched itself at the hole in the ceiling, snatching up her son in its lower claws as it went.

She fell to her knees as her husband shouted after the dragon, demanding it return his son. When his voice broke from the grief over taking him, she could here her baby's cries echoing through the night. Her hands went to her mouth, and she began to sob.

•••...•••...•••...•••...•••...•••...•••...•••...•••...•••...•••

She never forgave herself for her failure. She and she alone was to blame for what had happened. She hadn't been strong enough to kill the monster that had taken her son, and it had probably eaten him later that night.

She believed the tribe would be better off without her. If she couldn't protect her own baby, how was she to protect anyone else?

The guilt and grief together drove her to her sickbed. She was no longer strong enough for anything more than lying listlessly beneath the covers, staring off at nothing.

For years, this was the norm for her now incomplete family. Stoick would visit with her when he had the time, and she would never leave her bed.

And, meanwhile, a human childling was being raised in the company of dragons, learning their ways, yet, somehow, not becoming one.

**AN: So, is that a prologue, or what?**

**I'd love to say that I know exactly what I have in store for you guys, but I have nothing planned out yet. I might do some before posting the actual first chapter.**

**Reviews mean more than follows or favorites! (Though the latters are still appreciated...)**


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